June 21 st - Disneyland

This was the big day we had all been waiting for : Eurodisney. We met David, Ruby and Jasper McCubbin at the Luxembourg RER station at 8.30 sharp. Ready for a day of adventure. Whilst Stan and Karen Quinlan went off for meetings and gallery visits.

Karen is in charge of the Bendigo Art Gallery, and she happened to be here in Europe at the same time. So whist they went off to work, we played. We also arranged to go on a canal boat with them later in the week.

In under an hour we were there, off to Fantasyland and more. We managed to get on our first big roller coaster, the Indiana Jones ride, without queuing up for more than a few minutes so we thought it was going to be like that all day! The ride was fantastic, I love a roller coaster, but we didn't realise we'd be hurtling around upside down. Probably not the best ride to start with for poor Jasper who is only 10 and not keen on roller coasters. This did not help. We then explored the different lands, taking in exhibits and more rides.

It was all very " Disney ", plastic and fake, but it was great. Lots of detail and effort, well organised, the food was awful and expensive, the crowds big. But we were sure they get even bigger give the extent of infrastructure that goes into creating long corrals for people to queue in, so probably not such a busy day in their books. The longest wait was 50 minutes for adventure mountain ( fast pass system not working) - David and jasper went to hunt for lunch and do some shooting. It was such a good ride the girls were prepared to wait another 50 mins with David this time, who was keen to give it go, but they were lucky and were on in 35 minutes! Bonus.

So much to do we were exhausted by 6 pm so headed back to Paris to meet the others for dinner. It was the summer solstice where in France they celebrate this event with "fete de la music" - music everywhere in the streets. Which meant the trains were packed so we dragged 4 tired and hungry children thought the city streets back to Luxembourg Gardens. It was amazing - so many bands, people everywhere, festive atmosphere. I almost kissed the people giving out free Doritos - just what we needed to get home. Then I think I did kiss Stan when we finally found them with yummy fresh baguettes, strawberries ( the strawberries here are to die for soooo sweet and juicy) and wine. I even managed to duck into this very fancy looking patisserie to pickup a dozen macrons, expecting to pay a fortune but they were significantly cheaper than in Melbourne. I think the sun might have even come out for a bit.

We sauntered along and took in some bands returning to our room, late again. It was one of those really memorable days of travel.